ततः स मृत्युर्बभ्राम तत्कर्मान्वेषणादृतः । मण्डलानि दिगन्तांश्च सरांसि सरितो दिशः ॥ १२ ॥
tataḥ sa mṛtyurbabhrāma tatkarmānvēṣaṇādṛtaḥ | maṇḍalāni digantāṁśca sarāṁsi saritō diśaḥ || 12 ||
Translation
Then Death, intent on finding his actions, roamed the regions, the ends of the directions, lakes, rivers, the quarters,
Word by word
- tataḥ
- then
- sa
- (saḥ) he
- mṛtyur
- (mṛtyuḥ) Death
- babhrāma
- roamed
- tat
- his
- karma
- actions
- anvēṣaṇa
- on finding
- ādṛtaḥ
- intent
- maṇḍalāni
- the regions
- dig
- (dik) of the directions
- antāṁś
- (antān) the ends
- ca
- and
- sarāṁsi
- lakes
- saritō
- (saritaḥ) rivers
- diśaḥ
- the quarters
Meaning
The search begins, and the next two verses go on with the list. The commentary notes why Death travels: to know what a creature did in a land, one must go to that land, so he goes from place to place with care, not for the sake of travel. The long list in three verses is the story's way of saying: everywhere.